ASUS KING OF SMART PHONES
For years, Asus has been the king of a niche in dedicated gaming phones for the smartphone industry. And this is their latest creation ROG Phone 6 pro. So if these phones are the best for mobile gaming, what has improved since last year?
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| ROG Phone 6 pro |
Asus Rog Phone 6
At this point, ASUS and ROG have locked down their gaming phone formula, and like the previous two generations, the new one brings mostly incremental changes. Aesthetically, the ROG 6 Pro is a bit more subdued than in the past. You still get bold lines and geometric accents, but it's not as in-your-face. The back is made of Gorilla Glass 3, which wraps around a metal frame, and while the phone is on the heavy side, it's balanced and comfortable in the hand. The ROG Phone 6 Pro really stands out from the crowd, thanks to some neat features on the backside.
Design
First up is the full-color ROG Vision display, which is
programmable and can be set to light up depending on what's going on with the
phone. There's also an RGB Dare to Play logo, which can also be set to light up
based on certain conditions and supports many effects.
Connectivity
ROG phones are known
for their multiple ports for connectivity. Here you still get the traditional
three-five millimeter jack for headphones and a new side port, which is USB-C.
This time, there is no delicate pogo pin like before. The side port can be used
for gaming data transfer, video out or charging the phone during connectivity
via a USB-C hub. Even with these ports, the 6 Pro is the first ROG phone to
offer IP-rated water protection. It's only IPX 4, so it'll only stand up to
light splashes, but it's still nice to have.
Ultrasonic Triggers & Accessories
Trigger
ROG 6 Pro brings back the ultrasonic triggers on the upper corners of the frame, which can be used as additional controls for your games. They are also quite useful and versatile, recognizing long presses, swipes and slides. They're also really easy to map to on-screen controls via an overlay menu, and there are motion and gyroscope controls, which are an interesting alternative and potentially a more immersive experience. When we are talking about gaming controls,
The ROG Phone 6 Pro is also compatible with last year's Koni Gamepad 3. It's again very easy to map on-screen controls to joysticks and buttons, and then you have something that approaches the console experience. It can also give you an unfair advantage over other players. The controller is sold separately, though.
Accessories
Unfortunately, ASUS has lost its tradition of releasing a variety of accessories for its new ROG phones, and many of the older phones are not compatible with the new phones, but you still get support for some of them. is, including the controller.
Connect
ASUS docks the Professional ROG Clip, which comes with the
phone and allows you to connect a console gaming controller, an Aero Case,
which also comes bundled, and a new Aero Active cooling fan. We'll focus on the
fan for now. This is the best ever from ASUS. It brings four omnidirectional
trigger keys on the back for additional input, and is much easier to install
than last year's model. It even has a kickstand, so you can use it to prop up
the phone. And it also has RGB lighting, of course, to look more impressive.
The purpose of a fan isn't just to keep your hands cool,
although it does that. It cools the internals of the phone to improve
performance and prevent overheating. It works even better than the previous
model because it has an additional thermoelectric cooling element inside.
Overall, when it comes to such peripherals for a smartphone, the new Aero
Active Cooler is unmatched. It can work in four different modes. Sure, the fan
is loud, but it effectively unlocks the full performance potential of the ROG 6
Pros. I'll take this opportunity to go into overall performance.
Chipset
ROG Phone 6 Pro Pack. The latest and
greatest Android chipset. Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. According to ASUS numbers,
this should result in roughly 10% better overall performance than you'll find
in many of today's flagships. It's some of the best you can get on any phone
right now. ROG 6 Pro also brings an improved internal architecture for better
cooling at default performance settings. Even without a fan, continuous
performance is quite stable. Although this is at a much lower level than the
maximum to prioritize battery life.
X mode
On top of that, this
phone brings a lot of optimizations and ways to unlock even better performance.
The easiest way is to turn on High Performance X mode, which makes the
interface look like a shiny overdriven machine.
When gaming with X Mode on, things get better when you turn
on the fan. For one thing, it keeps your hands a lot cooler, and with the fan
attached, you can enable the high-performance Profile X Mode Plus. Depending on
the test, you can get much better results than the regular X mode when it comes
to high performance. And of course, sustained performance improved greatly in
our tests with X Mode Plus enabled and the active cooling fan turned on at its
coldest freeze mode, with very little loss in performance even after an hour of
heavy testing.
I'm making a problem with the stand though, which makes
gaming way more comfortable for your hands and opening. The phone's full
performance level doesn't come in a standard retail box that you need to get
separately.
Display
Let's move on to the ROG 6 Pro's display. It's a 6.78-inch
AMOLED with 1080p resolution with Gorilla Glass protection and a 165Hz refresh
rate. It's an upgrade from last year's 144Hz, and it makes motion on the screen
even smoother. You can choose from a variety of lock refresh rate options, the
lowest being 60 Hz, and with auto mode, it will dial back to 60 when idling to
save energy. There's full support for high-framerate gaming, as you'd expect.
And on top of that, you also get a super-fast 720 touch sampling rate for
unparalleled responsiveness. Asus claims, total end-to-end input latency of
just 23 milliseconds. This AMOLED display is excellent. It's sharp and
contrasty, and you get ten-bit color. HDR 10+ support as well as extensive Vine
One certification for Full HD streaming. Colors can be quite accurate, and
maximum brightness is respectable. We measured up to 500 nits when using the
manual brightness slider, and it can go up to 830 nits. And not the only mode
for when you need one outside, like last year, there's an under-display optical
fingerprint reader, and it's quite responsive.
Audio
The ROG Phone 6 pro brings something called Virtual Audio,
created in partnership with Darc. There are many enhancements happening behind
the scenes, such as spatial separation, crosstalk cancellation, and bass boost.
And also, through the Audio Wizard, there are a bunch of customization options
for you to tweak things. You get two dedicated, identical front speakers, each
with its own amplifier. They're scoring loud, doing very well on our charts,
and the sound quality is some of the best.
Storage/ RAM
You can opt for up to 512 GB of storage on the ROG Phone 6 Pro, and while you can't expand it via microSD, you can connect an external hard drive. Now let's touch on the interface, which is Android 12 with Asus custom ROG UI on top. It defaults to a gamer aesthetic, but you can switch to a normal-looking home screen if you prefer. It is also very well supported.
Operating System
Asus promises 2 major operating system updates and 2 years of
security patches. You can find many game-related features through the Game
Genie overlay, which you can access with a swipe from the corner. It's been
redesigned from last year, but still offers a truckload of features, including
Do Not Disturb brightness and refresh rate, a real-time performance overlay, a
background cleaner, screen recording and key mapping. And then you get to the
Armory Crate, a ROG staple. It's more like a dedicated gaming interface.
First and foremost is the game launcher. You can customize
the shape of the crates if you want. Within each profile, you get a plethora
of options, starting with Performance. You'll find several modes here, and
then if you enter Advanced, you get other categories to tweak. For example, the
touch menu gives you control over the sensitivity and accuracy of your inputs.
Inside the display, you find the refresh rate and graphics settings. You can
even go beyond the presets and into some more advanced sliders here if you
want.
The Performance tab gives you three levels of tuning, which
are different from the performance modes we've seen before. Yes, it's
complicated, but if you want to go even further, you can enter Advanced Gaming
Tuning, which gives you granular control over various aspects of performance
and the phone's internals. You probably shouldn't mess with them. The Network
tab gives you control over your connectivity, and then you can find your
mappings for the Air Triggers controller and macros on the front of the profile
page. You can save and share your profile created for your game online and
download profiles created by other people.
system wide settings
There are also a bunch of system wide settings. There are general performance modes, some of which require a cooling fan to operate, and other options such as system lighting and rear display management, more controls and a Connect tab to access the ROG forums.
Battery
Finally, Asus has a solid set of battery care features that work together to optimize your charging to help the battery last longer. Like last year, the battery has a 6000 mAh capacity split into two cells with MMT tech for faster charging. The ROG Phone 6 Pro managed to score an excellent endurance rating of 119 hours in our proprietary tests, better than the previous model and many rivals for charging. The phone comes bundled with a 65-watt adapter. Again, like last year, charging speed is impressive for the size of the battery, we were able to go from zero to 75% in half an hour.
Cameras
Last but not least, we've made it to the cameras. The ROG
Phone 6 Pro has a 50-megapixel main camera, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera,
and a 5-megapixel macro camera. Photos from the main cam come in at 12.5
megapixels and look great in daylight.
Overall they are bright and clean with lots of detail and
good colors. Our main complaint is a few sputtering artifacts from time to
time. Portraits have excellent subject separation and a convincing-looking
bouquet in the background. The 13-megapixel photos from the Ultra White camera
are decent with a good level of detail, colors that line up with the main
cameras, and low noise. They are a bit soft though, especially
near the edges of the frame. 5 megapixel close-ups taken with
the Acrocam are surprisingly clear and usable. There is a lot of detail and
colors look good in low light.
The main camera shoots decent but unremarkable photos. There
is enough detail and less noise. Night mode is sometimes triggered
automatically or you can toggle it. Exposure is brighter and both dark areas
and light sources get a big boost in detail and overall rendering. With Ultra
Wide, Auto Night mode is always activated and the results are fine. You get
plenty of bright exposure, enhanced shadows and highlights.
Video Record
The main camera can record video at 24 FPS and up to 8K resolution. The footage looks good with lots of detail and good colors. 4K video from the main cam still looks great with plenty of detail and wide dynamic range. The colors look vibrant, but they don't go overboard.
Ultra Wide
The ultrawide cam can also shoot in 4K, and the quality is
decent with plenty of detail for such a cam. It also matches the low noise and
colors of the main cam. Electronic stabilization is available for both cameras
and up to 8K resolution on the main one. It does a great job of smoothing out
footage so it's ROG Phone 6 Pro as always.
Final Review
Asus has delivered a high-end gaming phone, which is simply
unmatched when it comes to the sheer number of features and options available
to enhance the gaming experience.
Plus, you get a standout display, great audio quality, and
great battery life. With that said, it's not a huge upgrade
over last year's model. It's splash proof, you get a new chipset now,
and there are a handful of other tweaks.
My biggest concern is that you can't get the full experience
without a cooling fan, and while previous models got one in the box, now you
have to buy one separately on top of an already expensive device. Still, if
you're into the latest and greatest in mobile gaming tech, the ROG Phone 6 Pro
is top dog, and well worth recommending.
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